At a leading toy store in one of Karachi’s commercial hubs, children walk in every few minutes escorted by their parents to fulfil their whims and fancies no matter how extravagant. Without much contemplation over its price or requirement, almost every wish is materialised in this realm of joy and fascination—all except for one child’s.
With a seemingly invisible existence, Shan a 10-year-old goes to this shop every day, not to buy toys, but to earn a living.
Instead of getting his hands on the latest games like the rest of the children who visit the shop, he dusts, organises, and hands over the toys to the customers.
Repressing all his natural desires as a child he finds joy in simply feasting his eyes on the new arrivals that he handles, and still manages to muster satisfaction for his job. “This is much better than my last job, where I had to stand the whole day washing dishes, peeling, cutting vegetables and frying pakoras and samosas under the scorching sun,” he adds with visible relief.
Shan’s father is a painter by profession, but he is unable to find work most of the time. Due to this, he along with his mother and sisters, who do odd jobs at people’s houses, are forced to work. Yet, after all these endeavours, their burdens still keep mounting, making it a gargantuan task to support a family of 12.
This scenario holds true for Pakistan, which is becoming more and more socially polarised: on one side are people whose lives are replete with opulence; with the best in food, health, education and entertainment, and at par with international standards.
Whereas, on the other side a significantly large section is deprived of even basic needs and is barely able to subsist. Shan and his family represent the latter section of this social divide and the dawn of each day seems to amplify their hardships.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s annual economic publication is a testament to this divide. The Asian Development Outlook 2012: Confronting Rising Inequality in Asia says that income divisions are rising noticeably in the region. “Evidence from the FY2011 Household integrated economic survey indicates a widening income gap between the rich and the poor, with income for the lowest quintiles (40 per cent of the population) growing more slowly than the average,” it states.
It also forecasts worsening conditions: “With low investment and economic growth below the pace needed to accommodate the predominately young population, the rich-poor income gap is set to widen further.”
According to experts, the prime culprit behind this gulf is the growing inflation. The soaring unemployment rate, declining value of money, increase in food and fuel prices and a decline in the growth rate are some of the factors due to which the have-nots are affected more than the haves. But with the prices of essential commodities increasing by 150 to 300 per cent, as we witnessed in the past four years, more and more people are coming under its wrap.
Mona Ahmed, who belongs to the upper middle class, says that these days in order to lead a comfortable life it has become crucial for both husband and wife to work, and this was why she decided to take up home-based work as well so that she could maintain a certain standard of life. Wise budgeting can also lead to better income management of the house as well, she says.
“We don’t cook excess food anymore — just the right amount required — and also try to focus more on nutrition than on indulging in delicacies and fine dining. We also try to accommodate more chores in one trip rather than going separately so as to conserve fuel,” she says.
Faisal Mehmood a 29-year-old dhobi residing in Taiser Town, Karachi, says that his income remains stagnant while the expenses keep escalating at regular intervals. “The prices of all the things that our business is run on, like electricity, gas, chemicals, surf and soda have increased exponentially within the past few years. Just the price of soda per sack of 50 kgs has increased by Rs200 per bag in the past six months. Even water, the most basic of need, has to be bought and one single water tanker costs Rs800 and lasts only one day,” he adds with exasperation.
Furthermore, the biggest challenge in this regard has been the government’s decision to charge commercial bills from home-based businesses like his. They have to compete head-to-head with laundries without being able to have the leverage of charging as much as the latter do. Thus, their living standard has started to decline sharply. “Now we mostly eat vegetarian food,” says Mehmood.
The irony of the entire matter is that even when the government does come up with economic developments, its main beneficiaries are only a select few; the already affluent people of the society, leaving behind the rest in a worse state than before.
They have to coexist with people who indulge in luxuries that would cost them a lifetime worth of wages to achieve. This environment of increasing inequality is like a ticking bomb, which requires immediate intervention.